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Passing the bar

21 things to learn from brewery book's sudsy history

Montanans pride themselves on many things, and fine craft beer is at or near the top of that list. With that local pride comes a certain sense of ingrained knowledge about our hometown breweries. It's widely known, for instance, that Bayern Brewing is the state's oldest continuously operating brewery. It's also common knowledge that Big Sky Brewing is the state's largest brewery, with distribution as far east as Illinois. And most everyone knows the rapidly expanding Kettlehouse Brewing—which just remodeled its Myrtle Street taproom and reorganized its entire business to meet demand—started as a U-brew for patrons to make their own beer. These are the kinds of facts that get dropped to impress visiting relatives over a pint, but they don't begin to scratch the surface of Missoula's—or Montana's—rich brewing tradition.

"All of our United States beer history runs through Montana," says Ryan Newhouse, author of the new book, Montana Beer: A Guide to Breweries in Big Sky Country. "I think one of the things I found out was how closely Montana is tied to the national beer scene."

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Newhouse's new book is the natural extension of the state's booming craft beer industry. Montana now boasts 38 licensed breweries, second most per-capita in the nation. The state also produces more barley than any other in the country, supplying both craft brewers and major mainstream brands.

Newhouse captures this burgeoning beer business with a fact-filled brewery-by-brewery guide, as well as a bit of pre-Prohibition history on Montana's earliest brewing operations. With Newhouse's help, we picked out 21 things you're bound to learn from reading his bookand that could come in handy next time you're trying to impress an out-of-towner at the taproom.

1. The H.S. Gilbert Brewery opened in Virginia City in 1863, making it Montana's first official brewery.

2. Garden City Brewing received permission to name its signature beer Highlander in 1910, but only after getting the okay from a New York baseball team. The New York Highlanders became the Yankees in 1913.

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3. In 1902, Montana breweries produced 5 million barrels of beer, or roughly 21 gallons for every resident in the state at the time (including children).

4. Miller Brewing's "High Life" brand was originally used by Capital Brewing and Malting Co. in Helena.

5. Montana is the nation's top barley-producing state.

6. American Brewing Company in Great Falls targeted women drinkers, with one print ad noting the woman of the house is burdened by chores and prone to a "breakdown." "Such a result may be avoided by moderate use of AMERICAN BEER," the ad stated.

7. Olympia Brewing's slogan, "It's the Water," was first used by Red Lodge Brewing Company for its Glacier Beer.